How to Create a Good Logo — Useful Tips and Services
Launching your own company, blog or website is a challenging task. Crafting your corporate style (including an effective logo) is a major part of this process.
A logo creates the first impression of your brand. It tells customers what business you’re in and what your values and aspirations are. A good logo has the power to separate you from your competitors and boost your name recognition.
Why do you need a logo?
A good logo is a simple, easily identifiable image that visualizes not only your company, website, or blog, but also you as a person. A logo is an integral part of any successful brand. The main goal of any logo is to leave a lasting impression and give the audience the general idea behind your brand. This is why a logo must catch customers’ attention.
Along with other important functions, an effective logo:
– makes your brand more recognizable;
– builds trust between you and your target audience;
– makes you look more professional.
The logo-making process can be entertaining and easy. However, many business people, bloggers, and website owners are clueless about where to begin. In this article, we’ll take you through the first steps of designing your own logo.
What makes an effective logo?
Before you start working on your logo, make sure you know the top criteria every logo must meet. A smart logo is:
1. Simple. A clean and simple design makes a logo memorable. Avoid cluttering your logo with multiple elements and details. In logo design, less is more.
2. Memorable. To make your icon unique and memorable, be concise and avoid overly complicated elements.
3. Timeless. Think about whether your logo will look relevant and up-to-date in a couple of years. Creating a one-day logo is a waste of time and effort.
4. Versatile. A logo must look good across different backgrounds, whether it’s a business card or a billboard. Be sure the logo will reproduce effectively at different sizes.
5. Industry specific. Your logo must fit in your line of business. For example, a logo designed in a style that fits a children’s clothing store will look inappropriate on a travel blog.
Logo types
The next step is choosing the type of logo you want. The three basic types are a text-based logo, an icon-based logo, and a combination mark.
A text-based logo (logotype) features only a message written in a specific font. Text logos come in different forms, styles, and sizes. An appropriate font ensures that your logo stays legible across multiple displays.
Icon-based logos (logomarks) represent your brand via symbols and icons. Avoid complicated, cluttered, and indistinct images. A high-quality logo is a clean and recognizable one.
Combination marks are graphics that combine both logotypes and logomarks. They are the most popular logo designs among companies.
Color scheme
A clever color scheme communicates the mood of your business or blog. Each color conveys a specific emotion. To find the option that best reflects your ideas, you must know the psychological connotations behind colors.
Here are some associations for you to consider:
1. catchy, bold colors (red) are good for drawing attention;
2. muted hues (green, blue, brown) communicate stability, reliability, and trust;
3. black is the color of affluence and luxury;
4. pink channels affection and tenderness;
5. yellow and orange evoke feelings of joy and happiness.
Once you've selected the right color to uncover your brand personality in the most accurate way possible, follow these major rules:
1. to be memorable, a logo must incorporate no more than two or three colors;
2. a color scheme must fit with your industry, convey the right message to your audience, and capture your company’s essence and values;
3. make sure your logo looks good in black and white and against both black backgrounds and white backgrounds. You never know how you may use your logo in the future.
Font
Font is crucial in defining an iconic logo. A font characterizes your logo and, therefore, your business. Here are some important tips for making the right choice:
1. Pick minimalist fonts. Your logo must be legible even when it is scaled down.
2. Your font must emphasize your corporate style and market niche. For example, a bank logo needs a font that evokes feelings like trustworthiness and reliability.
3. Use no more than two fonts. Make sure your fonts look good together.
4. Choose a font that will remain relevant throughout the years.
See Also: 5 Smart Ways to Boost Brand Awareness
Methods for creating a logo
Now that you have a general idea of what your ideal logo should look like, it’s time to get down to work. There are plenty of ways to create a logo, depending on your time and budget.
To get a one-of-a-kind logo, you can commission a designer or a design studio.
Alternatively, you can follow our guidelines and draw a logo yourself.
You can also use an online logo generator. This is a great way to create a good logo without a large investment of money. On some platforms, you can even download a small-sized logo (perfect for a website or blog) at no cost.
See Also: 6 Tips for Designing the Perfect Logo for Your Brand
Online logo generators
For those of you who have decided to use an online logo generator, we’ve listed some worthy websites to help with that task.
Logaster
Along with logos, this service can help you design other elements of your corporate style. Submit your company name and line of business to get access to a vast selection of ready-to-use logos. While a small-sized logo is available for free, a full-sized logo costs $9.99. You can edit your logo even after you’ve purchased it. Cyrillic support is a big advantage.
Logotypemaker
An easy-to-use logo generator with a bunch of great editing tools. On the main page, you’re invited to submit the name of your business and industry. Then you can pick any template and edit it as much as you want. To download your logo, prepare to pay $24.99. Along with fee-based icons, the platform offers a limited selection of free logos.
Logogarden
At Logogarden, the logo-making process is the same as that described above. Customize your selected template by changing its size, color, font, and form. The bad news is that free logos are not available.
Hipster Logo Generator
A good website that offers clean, minimalist icons. All you need to do is choose the form and additional elements if needed. The next step is to add text and choose a font. Finally, you must add the right color or use one of the available background hues. A small-sized logo is free. A full-sized icon costs $10.
Tailorbrands
This online generator invites you to create your own logo in 30 seconds. Actually, it takes a little longer. First, you must enter your blog name. Second, you must submit a brief description of your blog. Finally, you will choose the type of logo (logotype or logomark) and the fonts. The website uses this information to generate several logos tailored to your business. All logos are editable. Logo download is available for a fee.
Takeaways
A logo creates a visual and emotional bond between your business and your target audience. It’s important to understand what your logo should look like and what message it should convey. A good logo reflects your professionalism and commitment to your customers or readers.
Check out our cool infographic below. It sums up the tips and steps on how to get your business logo done. Share it with friends, too, especially those who've been putting off getting a logo for their business enterprise.
We wish you luck and inspiration!
